News Releases

New study examines voter data privacy in the US

“Voter Privacy in the Digital Age” a benchmark
of voter registration data practices

Davis, CA - The California Voter Foundation (CVF) today published a state-by-state
study of voter registration data gathering and privacy practices, to call
attention to voter privacy issues and to provide states with information
and recommendations they can use as they implement the federal Help America
Vote Act (HAVA).

The study, called “Voter Privacy in the Digital Age”, is available
on the CVF web site at:

The study is based on a comprehensive 2002 survey of state voter registration
forms, state laws governing use of voter data, and interviews with state
election agencies. The survey, conducted prior to the passage of HAVA, serves
as a benchmark of pre-HAVA data collection and dissemination practices.

“This study represents the first comprehensive analysis of voter privacy
ever undertaken,” said Kim Alexander, CVF President and co-author of
the study. “One overarching conclusion of this study is the need to
establish a national dialogue about how to protect voter privacy in the digital
age and ensure that voter data practices are not a deterrent to voter participation.”

Key findings include:

- As of 2002, states were gathering a wide array of data from voters through
voter registration forms:

All states required voters to provide their name, address and signature;

Every
state but one required voters to provide their date of birth;

46 states
asked voters to provide their phone number;

34 states asked voters to
declare their gender;

14 states asked voters to provide their place of
birth; and

Nine states asked voters to declare their race.

- Of the five different kinds of disclosure to voters that appear on voter
registration forms, penalty notice was found to be the most common while
notice that secondary users could access voter data was the least common.

- Voter data is widely disseminated to secondary users:

All states grant candidates and political parties access to voter lists;

43
states use voter lists as a juror source list; and

22 states allow
unrestricted access to voter lists which permits the lists to be
used for commercial purposes.

Computerization of voter registration data, the rise of “voter profiling” by
political campaigns, and the implementation of statewide voter registration
databases are important trends impacting voter privacy today, according to
the study.

“Voter profiling has greatly enabled campaigns to precisely target
their mail, phone calls and door-to-door visits to those people who are most
likely to vote,” Alexander said. “In the process of targeting
whom they want to reach, campaigns have become skilled at ignoring those
they are not interested in reaching--primarily nonvoters and infrequent voters.”

The study makes a series of recommendations to the states, including:

Add notice to voter registration forms stating that voter information
is public record, and explaining which secondary uses of the data are
permitted;

Many states have yet to implement new HAVA requirements such as the creation
of centralized, computerized voter registration databases. 41 states have
asked the federal government for waivers to delay the implementation of this
requirement until 2006.

New data-gathering laws under HAVA that require voters to provide their
drivers' license number or last four digits of their Social Security number “greatly
enhance the need to protect and control the dissemination of sensitive voter
data,” said Alexander. “With so many states waiting
to develop and implement statewide, computerized voter registration databases,
there is still plenty of opportunity for citizens and election officials
to ensure that voter privacy concerns are considered as these programs are
implemented,” Alexander
said.

“Voter Privacy in the Digital Age” was co-authored by Kim Alexander
and Keith Mills, a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley's
Goldman School of Public Policy. Research assistance was provided by students
at UC Berkeley's Samuelson Center for Law, Technology and Public Policy at
Boalt Hall, with funding provided by the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation.

The California Voter Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization
advancing the responsible use of technology to improve democracy. More information
about CVF is online at www.calvoter.org.